Following the first evening of an occupation conducted in Chapel Hill (of a long-abandoned building, with the intent of recycling it as a community space), a team of riot police raided the building at roughly 4:30pm, with a slew of assault weapons drawn and pointed at occupiers and bystanders. All were unarmed and did not resist. Many were detained and 9 were arrested, including some who were not in the building and even as far as half a block away from the premises. Among those arrested was Ellen Crawford, a Richmond anarchist tabling at the book fair for the Flying Brick Library.
Alleged charges are at this time unknown, and arrestees are being processed at Hillsboro County Jail.
Anyone wanting to make donations for bail/legal can, for the time being, contact 804 303 5449 or donate via the Paypal on our website, wingnutrva.org, and include the intent of your donation. Richmond Anarchist Black Cross will direct these funds to the local support group. We will give further info on the legal support team in Chapel Hill so that funds can be transferred directly.
We will also give further updates on details of the entire situation. We recommend at this time you check Chapel Hill’s local newspaper, The Observer, and trianarchy.wordpress.com.